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Phantom Kangaroo
Out-of-place, kangaroo-like MARSUPIAL seen in North America and Europe far outside its normal range. Physical description: Height, 3–6 feet. Light tan to brown in color. Pointed ears. Pointed snout. Large hind legs and small forelegs. Long tail. Behavior: Takes long jumps. Can move as fast as 20 miles an hour. Distribution: United States, especially in the East and Midwest; southern Canada; England; Moselle Department, France; Värmland County, Sweden. A partial list of North American places where Phantom kangaroos have been reported follows: California—San Francisco. Colorado—Golden. Delaware—Concord. Illinois—Chicago, Dalton City, Du Quoin, Evanston, Lansing, Plano, Rock Island. Indiana—Carmel, Rensselaer, Sheridan. Iowa—Ottumwa, Wellman. Kansas—Abilene, Wakefield. Michigan—Detroit, East Lansing. Minnesota—Anoka, Coon Rapids. Nebraska—Grand Island, Endicott, Fairbury, Stanton. New Brunswick, Canada—Milltown, Miramichi. New York—Webster. North Carolina—Asheville. Nova Scotia, Canada—Bridgetown. Ohio—Grove City, Monroe. Oklahoma—Owasso, Tulsa. Ontario, Canada—Scarborough. Tennessee—Hamburg. Utah—Cedar Fort. Washington—Puyallup. Wisconsin—Brookfield, Eau Claire County, New Richmond, Pewaukee, Waukesha. Significant sightings: During the New Richmond, Wisconsin, tornado of June 12, 1899, a kangaroo was seen running through a woman’s backyard. Although a circus was in town, apparently no kangaroos were accompanying it. On January 13 and 14, 1934, a giant kangaroo reportedly killed and ate some police dogs in Hamburg, Tennessee. Rev. W. J. Hancock saw it running and leaping across a field. On July 28, 1958, Charles Wetzel saw a deerlike animal chasing some dogs by his cabin on the Platte River near Grand Island, Nebraska. When he got within 10 yards of it, he realized it was a kangaroo. It bounded away into an alfalfa field, taking 10-foot leaps. Wetzel, who operated a brewery, was so taken with the experience that he named one of his beer brands “Wetzel Kangaroo Beer.” Chicago policemen Leonard Ciagi and Michael Byrne encountered a 5-foot kangaroo in the early morning of October 18, 1974, in a dark alley on the northwest side of the city. When Ciagi tried to handcuff it, the animal kicked him hard in the legs before it escaped by leaping over a fence. After more than two weeks of mysterious kangaroo sightings in the Waukesha, Wisconsin, area, two men took a blurry Polaroid photograph of a kangaroo they saw in the bush near Pewaukee on April 24, 1978. Loren Coleman says it resembles a Red-necked wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus) or Swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor). Years later, an unconfirmed story surfaced that the two men were taxidermists who had taken a photo of a stuffed wallaby. In early June 1981, Ray Ault was tending sheep near Cedar Fort, Utah, when he saw a big, yellowish kangaroo jump past his herd. On August 4, 1999, Lois Eckhardt saw a kangaroo- like animal with a long tail on her cattle farm near Wellman, Iowa. In October 2000, there were four sightings of a 6-foot kangaroo nibbling on leaves in Beckenham Place Park, near Lewisham, London. Possible explanations: (1) Zoo escapees, such as a Kinkajou (Potos flavus), Mara (Dolichotis spp.), Civet (Viverrinae), or an actual Kangaroo (Family Macropodidae), have been suggested as candidates and occasionally caught. (2) The raccoonlike White-nosed coati (Nasua narica) often carries its long tail erect as it runs, though it is seen more often in bands rather than alone. Its range is limited to Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. Category:All Cryptids Category:Marsupial Category:North America Category:Carnivore Category:Europe Category:Herbivore